Legacy of the Mad Mages
Katherine Kim
Legacy of the Mad Mages © 2020 Katherine Kim. All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at [email protected]
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, or events is entirely coincidental.
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Cover by Venkatesh of KillerBookCovers
Contents
A quick word
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
About the Author
Books by Katherine Kim
A quick word
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1
The bullpen was, as usual, in a state of low-level chaos. Someone down the hallway was shouting in a language Caroline didn’t even recognize, let alone speak. There was a strange smell, kind of like burning plastic and marshmallows, wafting out of the lab every time the door opened, and once when she looked up, she would swear that a rainbow of sparks skittered briefly through the small gap under the door.
A few desks over from hers, Mitch Davisson was cursing at something on his computer, and Caroline was pretty sure she didn’t want to get in his way today. He was definitely happier in the lab instead of doing paperwork.
Just another normal afternoon at the Stonehaven branch of the Federal Paranormal Activities Agency.
Caroline made a face at the screen of her laptop and joined Mitch in spirit as she grumbled abuse against her professor, the subject of the paper, the word processing software, and the people who invented the English language. At the desk behind her Zanna, an elf with sharp hearing snorted out a laugh. Caroline should know better by now. Someone in this room was guaranteed to be able to hear her.
“Thanks a lot, C. I just got coffee all over my paperwork!” The amusement in Zanna’s voice easily canceled out any sting the words may have caused. It was moments like this that Caroline was actually comforted by her weird, still-unexplained talent for hearing more information from someone’s voice than from just their words. Zanna’s voice told her that she was entirely sympathetic and thinking back to a few of her own long-ago classes.
“Always happy to provide amusement, Zan.” Caroline spun her chair around to face her friend and colleague. Anything to get away from her paper, even for a few minutes.
“What are you working on? And why are you doing your homework here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be doing, I don’t know, something work-related when you’re at work?” Zanna spun her own creaky desk chair to avoid her own work.
“I’m not actually on duty today. My roommate has been having her boyfriend over all the freaking time lately for study sessions.” Caroline used heavy air quotes and rolled her eyes dramatically at the phrase. “So I can’t get anything done there, and the quiet of the library is weirdly distracting and kind of creeps me out. This is the last paper I have for the semester, then I just have two final exams and I’m done for the summer. And one of the exams is for my math class, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
Caroline was ready to be out of school for the summer. She enjoyed her classes for the most part but, as it turned out, what she really enjoyed was hunting down bad guys and stopping crazy paranormal crimes. College was unsurprisingly boring in comparison to her job. Sadly to be a full agent in the Federal Paranormal Activities Agency, she needed that college degree.
So, here she sat, trying to bang out five pages of explanations and theory for her Criminal Law class, and not one single entry on the Syllabus even mentioned how to handle shifter-human relations, or the possibility of being knocked out by the feedback loop created when trying to use a magical taser to stop an incredibly illegal and wildly dangerous weather spell. Maybe that last one was just her problem? Caroline wasn’t sure this class was very practical for her in the long run.
“I still don’t understand why you moved into the dorms in the first place. You seemed pretty comfortable at Julia’s over the summer last year, and it’s not that far from campus.” Zanna stretched and grabbed her coffee cup before standing.
“Partly I just wanted the experience, you know?” Caroline said, stretching back in her chair for a few moments. “But also, I couldn’t see myself getting any homework done at all with Julia trying to be my wing-woman every night. I have concerns about her taste in men. She set me up last November with a guy who was supposedly a nice, respectable sort that I could ease into dating with now that I’m out of that awful high school,” Caroline said. Dating wasn’t even a pipe dream back when she was Mean Queen Maureen’s favorite target. Nobody wanted to risk the possible social damage.
Zanna paused and raised an eyebrow, waiting for the punchline. “Well, he did look very nice in his bowtie, but it didn’t really have the same vibe as the leather jacket and biker boots. Although, it was a leather bowtie, which was actually kind of impressive. She set me up with the bouncer for a BDSM club.”
Zanna laughed. “And? Did the date go well?”
Caroline had to laugh now, too. “It did, actually. We grabbed some burgers then went to see a movie. I told him up front that I was nervous because it was my first blind date and Julia had sort of strong-armed me into it. He actually laughed and said he didn’t do blind dates ever and was only out with me because he lost to her at poker. We agreed that there was no reason for Julia to know we just hung out platonically, so we did. I see him sometimes when I’m walking around and we wave.”
“Only you, C.” Zanna chuckled and headed back to the break room for more coffee.
Caroline sighed and started to turn back to the cursed essay when an incoming email chimed brightly at her.
“Saved by the bell!” She sighed.
She didn’t recognize the email address it came from, but that wasn’t terribly unusual around here, and the email did make it through the thirty-eleven thousand checks performed on anything coming into the system so it must be safe, at least.
Hey Caroline,
I just wanted to catch up a bit and let you know that yes, I’m still alive and well and up to no good. I hear you’re doing fine work getting some nasty and illegal enchanted dolls off the streets! I applaud your diligence and thank you for your service. Nasty, creepy things, dolls, and ones that are magically animated to move on their own? Ew, no thank you. Worse tha
n spiders!
I understand its Agent Barnett and anther agent taking lead on that case. I do hope that doesn’t mean that Agent Webb is being left out of all the fun. I also hope that Agent Barnett is taking all due precautions when he goes out into the field. It’s a dangerous world, and even more so for anyone that’s special, and there have been very quiet whispers in the shadier areas of the country that have me a bit concerned, to be honest with you.
I hope you are well and staying out of trouble. Well, as much as you can at any rate. Try not to get yourself kidnapped
Your friend,
Lucas
Caroline blinked at her screen and read the email three more times just to make sure she wasn’t crazy. Well, not any crazier than usual. She glanced around the bullpen and did some mental location tracking.
“Huh. Hey, Zanna?” Caroline glanced up at the elf as she sat back at her desk, the bitter smell of break room coffee wafting over both seats. “Where’s Greg?”
“Getting some sleep right now. He’s been staking out the park the last few days where that doll seller has supposedly been seen. He was out all night last night, watching the area and doing the occasional flyover. Why? What’s up?”
Zanna put her coffee down and reached up to pull her light brown hair up into a bun on top of her head, making her pointed elf ears more obvious.
“I just got an odd email from one of the guys that was involved with that human trafficking case last fall. We emailed a few times right after, but it’s been a while now. He seems to be just saying hello, but he asked after us all and how safe we’re being and seemed like he’s maybe heard a rumor or two.”
Zanna leaned over and read the email over Caroline’s shoulder, a frown forming as she finished. “Hmmm.”
“Yeah. That’s kind of what I thought.” Caroline heard the concern in Zanna’s voice as clearly as if she’d said the words.
“Should I email him back? Ask what he means?”
Zanna chewed her lip and reread the email, much like Caroline had before nodding slowly. “Yeah. I think you should try to get as much information as you can out of that guy. How does he know who’s working what case? And what whispers? None of our informants have mentioned anything like that.” Zanna sat back in her chair at her own desk. “If I remember correctly, you worked with this guy, right? He seemed honest to you?”
“No, not at all,” Caroline laughed. “He struck me as a bit of a crook, actually. But a crook with morals. He helped us with that case, like I said, and didn’t ask for anything in return. He was genuinely outraged by the idea of people being put up for sale. But honest? No. I doubt he’s particularly honest.”
Zanna raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll email him back and see what we can see,” Caroline said, finally turning back to her own computer.
“And then you can finish your paper.” Zanna’s grin was laced through every word. “After all, that’s what you’re here for today. Gotta pass those classes!”
Caroline just scrunched up her nose and grumbled another inventive curse about her professor’s teaching skills. Zanna just laughed.
2
“Zanna, how’s that doll case coming?” Point stopped by the elf’s desk and tapped on the corner. His blue-grey skin looked grayer than normal and his eyes looked tired in his craggy face.
Zanna grimaced and shook her head. “Greg has been watching the park where we keep hearing reports of buskers using the enchanted dolls in their act, but nothing yet. He went home early this morning to sleep, but should be back here in an hour or so.”
“Okay. This golem thing is taking longer to sort out than we’d expected and the Deputy Director is starting to ask about it.” Point’s shoulders sagged slightly. “Dealing with the bureaucratic politics of the chain of command is my least favorite part of this job. The paperwork is a close second. Darien!”
Darien leaned over to peer around Caroline’s laptop screen, still chewing his meat lover’s sub from the deli a few blocks over. Point waved a sticky note at him and Darien caught the edge of it, to peer at what was scrawled there.
“The Pithold Mansion?” Darien raised his eyebrows at Point.
“Take Caroline and head over there. There’s been a theft of an enchanted artifact, and the owners are fairly upset.” He passed a sheet of paper over to Caroline while Darien nodded and finished his lunch. “These are the few details I’ve got,”
“Wasn’t there a museum robbery just last week?” Caroline asked as she glanced at the few details on the report sent over from the police.
“Yeah, a few things were taken from a museum in Kentucky. I sent Greg and Zanna to check it out, but it’s still an open case. Yes, they might be connected, but we won’t know until you’re out there. Come back and compare notes when you’re done there.” Point sighed and grimaced. “I want Zanna and Greg on the illegal golem case full time, so they can turn over the other case file to you when you’re back anyway. Good luck with these, I hope you can get them closed soon. I don’t need more calls with Deputy Director Silverrain about those dolls. I like her well enough, and she was a damn good agent when she was in the field. But I can’t pull a closed case out of thin air like a damn conjuring trick. Get it done, you hear?” He capped his point with a glare around at them.
“Yes sir,” they chorused.
Point lumbered away towards his office.
“That troll needs some downtime,” Zanna muttered. She turned and shrugged at Caroline. “I’ll have the files for you when you get back. Greg should be here by then, too, if you have any questions for us.”
“Take Mitch!” Point’s voice carried over the general chatter of the bullpen. Mitch, upon hearing his name, scowled up from his computer and blinked back into the present moment.
“Grab your bag, Mitch. We’ve got a theft to look into.” Darien’s grin threaded through his voice and Caroline just grabbed her purse and locked her laptop in the drawer. Nobody needed to be looking at her terrible essay.
“Aren’t you off today?” Mitch grumbled from the back seat.
“Yeah, but Point never seems to remember or care about fussy details like that. If someone’s physically in the office, they’re at work in his brain.” Caroline shrugged. “I don’t mind, really. Honestly, I could use the distance from my paper. I was getting ready to get really violent with my word processor.”
“What class is it for?”
“Totally boring, non-paranormal criminal law. I have a class about the legal complications of mages and enchanting next semester, though. That should be interesting.” Caroline rolled her shoulders as Darien turned the corner and started to scout for parking.
It was a pleasant, not quite suburban street in Virginia, shaded by tall trees and dotted with planters that had obviously been recently filled with summer flowers. The large house stood back from the road, behind an attractive iron fence. A wide, sloping lawn was cut by an artfully curving drive up to a wide parking area on the far side of the building. Men in coveralls bustled around a corner of the formal garden on the near side, tidying and watering and doing other gardener things.
“They’re open to the public during limited hours. It’s technically a private residence, but there’s a lot of historical interest in the house and grounds, as well as the owners’ personal collections and library, and they’ve been very generous. I think that there are even tours for school field trips and in the summer they set up a big screen on the lawn and have family movie nights. In August they host a touring outdoor Shakespeare company. I think they do a whole holiday thing, too,” Darien said, stepping out onto the sidewalk.
“Sounds cool. How do you know so much about it?” Caroline looked around at the grounds and waved when one of the gardeners stood up and stretched in the warm late-morning sunshine and saw them. He waved back, and his eyes crinkled into a smile.
“I came up for a couple of the movies the first summer I moved here from Seattle. They played a few of my favorites, and I was learning about the
area.” Darien shrugged. She knew he didn’t like to talk about his move from Seattle, so she dropped it.
“I’ve been here as well, though for more intellectual pursuits. They have a number of rare books about mage history,” Mitch added. “Their collection of artifacts from Viking mages is remarkable. One of the finest in the world.”
“Nerd,” Darien teased.
“And damn proud of it, thank you!” Mitch grinned back. “Now let’s go see what was stolen. Whatever it was it was not only a crime but a damn shame!”
He led the way towards the pedestrian gate in the fence, and they spoke with the guard sitting in the little booth inside. After showing their credentials they were directed up to the front door where someone would meet them. The tan gravel under their feet crunched pleasantly and Caroline commented that it was surprising they hadn’t been robbed before now.
“A good thief could practically waltz in and back out of here!”
“Take another look around,” Darien said. “We’re probably on a half dozen CCTV screens in the security office right now. At least two of those gardeners are actually security guys.”
“And that’s not including the wards we’ve passed through and the electronic locks on pretty much everything,” Mitch agreed.
“Huh.” Caroline looked around with renewed attention and did indeed spot cameras all over the grounds, now that she was looking for them. “How do you know about the gardeners?”
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